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NETAA Newsletter March 2003
Greetings fellow archers.
As you receive this, winter should be drawing to a close. Spring will be more welcomed than usual after this tough winter! The NETAA tour will be gaining momentum, and I hope to see you all on the tournament trail in the next few months.
NEW ENGLAND INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP- There is still time to make plans to compete at Tepee Archery the weekend of March 8-9! We hope to see all our members from New England and some of those from New York as well. This is a great shoot to use to get your 540 qualification out of the way before the serious 3D season gets into full swing. Every summer we have dozens of archers looking for opportunities to qualify for the 540 Round at the Championship, and most of them could have gotten it out of the way early by competing at this event. Do not be one of those that miss out this year! We really hope that the archers from New England will make a special effort to support this event. Tournament archery in New England has been on a serious down turn for several years now, and we need everyone to pull together to reverse the trend. NETAA is only holding two shoots in New England this season, so it is not a lot to ask everyone to come out and support them.
We are giving New England archers a chance to qualify for both events at the Championship this August without traveling outside of New England, but your chances to qualify are getting fewer as attendance/support for tournament archery in the six states diminishes. A few years ago the IBO New England Triple Crown died out, this year we had to scale back from a triple crown to one 3D Championship in New England, and this winter's Springfield show didn't have the big 3D indoor event. I would like to believe that archery can come back in the area, but we need to see support/numbers at the two (indoor and outdoor) championships this season and then start building it back from there. We need every archer to attend, and bring a friend. If either of you does not feel "competitive", come shoot in the guest division to have some fun and show your support for tournament archery.
While we really need the archers from new England to come out in support of tournament archery, I'm asking all our friends in New York and New Jersey to also make a special effort to attend these two shoots. Its no joke, tournament archery is dying in New England and we need all the help we can get to turn things around. I hope that by drawing decent numbers at these two events we can start putting the excitement back into the sport in the six state New England area. Can I count on you?
SOUTHERN TRIPLE CROWN- The first outdoor 3D tournament of the season is the first leg of the Southern Triple Crown at Delaware County. These guys put on one heck of a shoot! Last year they gave everyone a free lunch as part of the registration package. I cannot say that is going to happen again this year, but I will bet they come up with something to make everyone extra happy. Their goal is to help us kick off the outdoor season every spring with the best shoot possible. Based on the attendance last spring, and how happy everyone was with the shoot, we are expecting a great turn out this spring. The second and third legs of the mini tour will be at the same clubs as last season, so we are very confident that the entire tour will be a great success! All of these clubs do a great job and we have seen attendance building year after year.
NEW YORK TRIPLE CROWN- With all three legs held at the same clubs that did such a fine job last season, this mini tour is poised to be a great success this season as well. Attendance has been up at all three legs every year and there is every reason to believe that will continue. The Championship last summer was very well received, and everyone we talk to is excited about going back to Gilbertsville this August to do it again! With the Third leg (and Last Chance 540 Qualifier) also at Gilbertsville, we will have a great "warm up" for everyone planning on coming to the Championship in August. The Indoor Winter 3D Qualifier in New York this February saw twice as many contestants as last year and we signed up over twenty new members. That is a sure sign that the New York part of the NETAA tour is going in the right direction!
NEW ENGLAND 3D CHAMPIONSHIP- As announced in prior newsletters, the New England Triple Crown has been cut back to one event due to a steady decline in attendance at all archery events in New England. We are hoping that all tournament archers in New England will consider this a "wake up" call and help us turn the tide. I ask all you archers that have been in the game for a while to remember how much fun it was to go to a few big shoots every season. The new guys coming along will never get to enjoy this unless we all pull together now and support a couple major events. Its time for all the old timers to come out again, and bring at least one new person from the shop or club where you shoot. Lets give tournament archery the shoot in the arm that is needed to start bringing the excitement back. If not for yourselves, do it for the new and young archers coming along, don't they deserve a chance?
SPONSORSHIP- We have been hard at work back at the office trying to increase sponsorship support of the tour. Letters went out to over 500 manufacturers of archery/bowhunting products asking for their help/support. We also got out over 1500 letters to guides and outfitters asking them to help with hunting trips. The support has already started coming in, and I am sure we will see more as the tour moves along toward spring.
Mathews has donated a custom bow for the Championship (full details to follow), BCY has donated more of their colorful umbrellas for door prizes, and Trail Blazer just sent us a box of the best folding saws I have ever seen! An outfitter in Wyoming just donated a fully guided trophy elk hunt for the '04 season to be used as our Grand Championship bonus award, and several other outfitters have started talking about what they will donate. We are getting a couple letters a week, and will do a full report in the next newsletter.
PRO STAFF- As announced last fall, we have kicked off a new Promotional Staff Program. So far, five people have raised their hands and are rolling up their sleeves to help us promote the tour. We are still looking for more help. What we are looking for are people that will spend a few hours a week helping us contact people via the Internet. We do not want you to spend money mailing letters or making long distance phone calls. Each Pro Staff member will be asked to take twenty manufactures from the list we already mailed, and follow up with a more personal request for sponsorship support. Each Rep will also be asked to try to contact a few guides to follow up on those letters, as well as asked to talk to their local archery shop. Here is the thing: If we only get ten volunteers, and each of them gets only two companies to donate product to our door prize program, one shop to donate a bow (or tree stand) to the raffle, and one guide to donate a hunt, think about what we'll have for "everyone" at the Championship!
That is right, over twenty door prizes at every event in the tour, ten hunting trips to award at the Championship and ten large items (bows, tree stands, etc) at the big raffle. Add all that to the over $7,000.00 in cash prize money, $1,500.00 in College Tuition Money for the youngsters, the huge trophies, and the good food and fun at the Championship and we'll have one heck of a tournament! Last year was great, but this year will be better, especially if we get a little help. Contact me (NRoyGoodwin@netscape.net) for more information on how to help.
Good shooting,
Roy Goodwin